Callan Capital LLC Trims Stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Callan Capital LLC reduced its stake in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 71 shares during the quarter. Callan Capital LLC’s holdings in Linde were worth $292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LIN. Carmel Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Linde by 122.6% in the 3rd quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 69 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in Linde in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE grew its stake in Linde by 42.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 128 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Linde in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Linde news, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total value of $2,466,417.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,809,695.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Sanjiv Lamba sold 8,306 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.04, for a total transaction of $3,837,704.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 56,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,058,131.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Sean Durbin sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $467.39, for a total transaction of $2,466,417.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 8,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,809,695.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 78,248 shares of company stock valued at $35,811,988. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Down 0.1 %

LIN traded down $0.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $443.18. The stock had a trading volume of 1,583,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,209,385. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $456.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $420.75. The company has a market capitalization of $213.43 billion, a PE ratio of 35.17, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $350.60 and a twelve month high of $477.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Linde had a net margin of 18.87% and a return on equity of 17.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Linde plc will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were issued a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from Linde’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LIN. Mizuho upgraded shares of Linde from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $510.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $429.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.79.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.